Category: Australian News

The Albanese Government is strengthening Medicare to deliver a better, fairer and stronger health system and responsible cost of living relief.

In just over 12 months, the network of Medicare Urgent Care Clinics has achieved an historic milestone with more than 500,000 free visits across the country.

Half a million presentations since the Albanese Government established the first clinics in June 2023, with Australians receiving treatment for a range of conditions and injuries that are urgent, but not life-threatening.

The milestone coincides with the announcement of the latest Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, which will be established in the New South Wales area of Queanbeyan, near to the Australian Capital Territory border.

The Brindabella Family Practice, on Morisset Street, was selected to be the Queanbeyan Medicare Urgent Care Clinic through a process led by the New South Wales Government.

The Clinic will open later this month, offering free walk-in care, seven days a week, over extended hours, providing urgent medical care to locals on both sides of the border.

It will reduce pressure on the Queanbeyan District Hospital where, in 2022-23, over 70 per cent of presentations were for semi-urgent or non-urgent matters. 

The Queanbeyan clinic is one of the 29 additional clinics to be established through a $227 million national expansion announced as part of the 2024-25 Budget, adding to the 58 clinics already operating.

There are 16 Medicare UCCs now operating in New South Wales, located in: Albury, Batemans Bay, Campbelltown, Cessnock, Coffs Harbour, Lake Haven, Lismore, Liverpool, Maroubra, Peninsula (Gosford), Penrith, Rooty Hill, Ryde, Tamworth, Westmead, and Wollongong.

There have been more than 87,000 visits in New South Wales, with:

• Almost 1 in 4 by children under 15;
• More than 1 in 4 taking place at the weekend; and
• 1 in 5 weekday visits taking place after 5pm.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese:

“Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are providing the urgent care people need, and all they need it their Medicare card, not their credit card.

“Every day they’re taking the pressure off busy hospital emergency departments.

“Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are a key way we’re making Medicare stronger, ensuring Australians have access to affordable care, when and where they need it.”

Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler:

“Half a million visits proves what an impact our Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are having right around the country.

“In the Budget, we invested $227 million to open an additional 29 Clinics, to ensure that more Australians can get medical care when their need is urgent, but not life threatening.

“The Queanbeyan Urgent Care Clinic will help ensure locals on both sides of the border can get free, urgent care, when they need it and fully bulk billed, taking pressure off busy hospital emergency departments.”

Member for Eden-Monaro Kristy McBain:

“The Queanbeyan Medicare Urgent Care Clinic is going to make a big difference to residents in Queanbeyan, but also in the surrounding communities of Googong, Jerrabomberra and beyond.

“Instead of waiting for a non-life threatening issue at the emergency department, locals can receive treatment at this walk-in clinic, with no out of pocket costs.

“This Medicare UCC will ease pressure on the local emergency department and be much more convenient for our communities – closer to home, at short notice, and bulk billed under Medicare.”

Australian manufacturing is in crisis because of the Albanese Labor Government’s wrong priorities and economic incompetence.

Manufacturing insolvencies have tripled since the last election, domestic energy prices among the highest in the world, invoice defaults at record highs, declines in new orders at lows not seen since the GFC, and growth rates are anaemic for Australian industry.

How can Labor promise a future made in Australia if they cannot keep the lights on today?

While the Coalition will consider today’s legislation, it does not appear to provide any real detail.

The Coalition, along with economists and industry leaders, have raised serious concerns about poor consultation, opaque tender processes, and bad policy.

The reality is this Bill will do nothing to alleviate the pressure Australian manufacturers are facing because of Labor’s economic mismanagement and for too many businesses it is already too late.

As a now removed web page demonstrates this is not the first time Labor has promised Australians a ‘Future Made in Australia’. It is a promise Anthony Albanese was elected on and it is a promise he has categorically failed to deliver in office.

Labor’s $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund is yet to spend a single dollar.

Energy prices for manufacturers continue to soar and 90 per cent reliable baseload power is set to close under Labor’s flawed ‘renewables-only’ approach.

Yet today with his trademark arrogance the Treasurer is out again promising a Future Made in Australia.

Underscoring Labor’s real motives they are going to spend $45 million of taxpayer funds marketing the Future Made in Australia proposal.

So the test is clear: will the Australian people see ads for a Future Made in Australia before the Government funds projects?

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Industry, Sussan Ley, said Labor were failing manufacturers and focused on winning votes not creating jobs.

“Labor’s homegrown inflation is hurting Australians, families can’t plan for their next grocery shop and businesses can’t plan to keep their doors open, and instead of focusing on delivering an economic plan Anthony Albanese is funding market campaigns to win votes.”

“Australian manufacturers need a proper economic plan: they need cheaper and consistent energy, less red tape and industrial relations settings that work for businesses and employees, not the unions.”

“The Coalition has a plan to provide cheap, clean and consistent energy to return Australia to a manufacturing powerhouse”.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said the only thing being “made in Australia” is Labor’s homegrown inflation crisis.

“Labor thinks it can spin and spend its way out of a cost of living crisis. You can’t.

“Labor’s failure to deal with the source of the problem – high inflation – continues to damage the Australian economy and vital sectors like manufacturing.

“Today’s legislation does not provide any clarity for manufacturers who have been suffering under Labor’s economic mismanagement.

“Labor has the wrong priorities and wrong policy settings for a prosperous economy.”

For many years, Pauline Hanson has been warning about the danger of allowing unchecked immigration from predominantly Muslim countries where the population has been exposed to fundamentalist Islamic ideology completely out of step with Australian values of democracy, freedom and separation of church and state.

In her first speech upon her return to Parliament in 2016, Pauline said ‘political’ Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism was being imported to Australia by the major parties too paralysed by woke accusations of ‘islamaphobia’ to restrict or ban immigration from such places.

She also noted Australia was actually exporting Islamic terrorists, and it was true. It was when some Australian citizens travelled to Iraq to join the barbaric Islamic State, or ISIS. Pictures of an Australian child holding a severed head with his terrorist father shamed the nation and horrified the civilised world.

In Australia, there are still radical Islamic preachers calling for ‘jihad’ against Australia and the West, for the genocide of Jews and the destruction of Israel. Due to the Prime Minister’s frailty and ambiguity regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict, they are able to get away with it.

And thanks again to Albo’s weakness, a group calling itself ‘Muslim Vote’ has this week emerged to target seats in western Sydney with high Muslim populations, held by senior Labor figures like Tony Burke and Jason Clare. Their initial goal is to force Labor to back the Palestinian cause.

We can all agree it’s unlikely to stop there. Fatima Payman, the 29-year-old hijab-wearing Labor senator from Western Australia – has embarrassed Albo by crossing the floor (traditionally an offence that results in expulsion from the ALP) in support of recognising the non-existent state of Palestine. She’s quit Labor to be an independent, is now talking to infamous ‘preference whisperer’ Glenn Druery and there’s a lot of speculation she’ll be invited to join this ‘Muslim Vote’ group.

Minor political parties have been formed around religion in Australia before. They’ve all been Christian, like Family First, and never particularly successful at the ballot box. They’ve generally stood on a foundation of conservative values many Australians share.

However with 813,000 Muslims now calling Australia home, and Labor hopelessly compromised on religious freedom and the Middle East conflict, we’re now starting to see Muslims exercise political influence.

This influence could not have been brought to bear had Australia’s major parties listened to Pauline’s warnings. But here we are, and it doesn’t bode well for our nation’s future.

The Albanese Government will invest at least $2 billion over the next decade to bolster Australia’s cyber capabilities with the announcement of a strategic partnership between the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Australia to deliver a Top Secret (TS) Cloud for the Australian Government.

This landmark partnership will see AWS establish a sovereign TS Cloud in Australia to deliver resilient information, communication and technology (ICT) services for the Australian Government, generating up to 2,000 local Australian jobs.

AWS is the world’s most widely adopted cloud computing service with a longstanding presence in Australia and specialist expertise in delivering classified cloud services that provide world-class security, reliability and resilience.

The TS Cloud will be purpose-built for Australia’s Defence and National Intelligence Community agencies to securely host our country’s most sensitive information. It will improve our ability to securely share and analyse our nation’s most classified data at speed and at scale, and provides opportunities to harness leading technologies including artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The TS Cloud will bolster the resilience of Defence’s communications networks and is a critical enabling capability in supporting the Australian Defence Force’s military operations, and will also support greater interoperability and deeper collaboration with the United States.

This partnership with AWS is a major investment from the Albanese Government and is another important step in implementing the 2024 National Defence Strategy.

This significant investment is part of the $15‑20 billion to 2033-34 to enhance Defence’s cyber capabilities and the $8.5-11 billion to 2033-34 to bolster Defence’s enterprise data and ICT announced in the 2024 Integrated Investment Program.

The joint initiative offers significant opportunities for Australian industry. It will see AWS engage Australian businesses to design and build the TS Cloud, driving innovation and job creation in cybersecurity, data analytics and cloud computing. Australia’s defence industry will see additional benefits with new opportunities to deliver and integrate new capabilities using these cloud services.

The TS Cloud builds on AWS’ planned $13.2 billion investment in Australian infrastructure to 2027 – the largest tech investment in Australia’s history, supporting the creation of 11,000 local jobs. This is in addition to the $9.1 billion AWS has invested in Australian infrastructure since its launch in 2011.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

“My Government is bolstering our defence and national intelligence community to ensure they can deliver world leading protection for our nation.

“This important investment today will help enhance our national security capabilities while creating up to 2,000 local jobs.

“We face a range of complex and serious security challenges and I am incredibly proud of the work our national security agencies undertake on a daily basis to keep Australians safe. We must never underestimate their value and importance. That is what this investment today is about.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles

“The Albanese Government is enhancing Defence’s cyber capabilities as a matter of priority under the National Defence Strategy by investing at least $2 billion to establish and operate a Top Secret Cloud platform which is central to achieving this objective.

“This cutting-edge technology will enhance Defence’s resilience, improve the ADF’s warfighting capacity, strengthen interoperability with key international partners and deliver up to 2,000 Australian jobs.

“This significant investment is a reflection of the Albanese Government’s sensible approach to prioritising the enabling capabilities our Defence Force needs in order to address the complex strategic circumstances we face.”

Director-General Australian Signals Directorate, Rachel Noble PSM

“This is another fantastic example of what we can achieve for Australia when the private and public sector work together in partnership.

“The Top Secret Cloud with Amazon Web Services in Australia will provide a state-of-the-art collaborative space for our intelligence and defence community to store and access top secret data. This will transform how we work together as agencies and partners.

“For ASD, this capability is a vital part of our REDSPICE program which is lifting our intelligence and offensive and defensive cyber capabilities.”

Director-General of National Intelligence, Andrew Shearer

“The Top Secret Cloud represents a truly transformative capability boost for the National Intelligence Community.

“It will drive even closer integration, sharing and collaboration between agencies, greater resilience, and greater interoperability with our most important international intelligence partners.

“As program sponsor on behalf of the National Intelligence Community, ONI considers the Top Secret Cloud will help lay the foundation for a connected, modern and resilient intelligence community. We look forward to working in partnership with Amazon Web Services, the Australian Signals Directorate and other National Intelligence Community agencies on this transformative capability.

the Vice President, Worldwide Public Sector for Amazon Web Services, Dave Levy

“Amazon Web Services is excited to embark on this strategic partnership with the Australian Government, to provide our most innovative, efficient and effective cloud services to help Australia enhance its national defence capabilities and protect its citizens.

“This partnership will enable the Australian Government and its defence and intelligence agencies to securely share information, speed up innovation, and achieve their missions faster. We look forward to supporting the Australian Government’s mission of protecting and advancing Australia’s interests, and remain steadfast in our long-term commitment to Australia, helping drive innovation and improving lives for its communities.”

the Managing Director, Public Sector, Australia and New Zealand, for Amazon Web Services, Iain Rouse

“AWS is uniquely positioned, as a trusted, long-term partner to the Australian government to deliver on this important partnership. This critical national security initiative allows AWS to demonstrate our commitment to not just deliver a fixed set of requirements, but to continuously adapt, enhance and innovate together over the years to come.”

Labor is now isolated as the only party allowing the big supermarket corporations to continue to misuse their market power and price-gouge Australian shoppers, the Greens say.

“The Coalition’s support for divestiture powers in the supermarket sector makes this a moment of choice for Prime Minister Albanese. He can either keep holding hands with Coles and Woolworths, or he can side with Australian shoppers,” Greens Economic Justice Spokesperson Senator Nick McKim said.

“The Greens have long said that a more competitive supermarket sector would mean lower food and grocery prices. It is now only Labor standing in the way.”

“Cheaper food and genuine accountability for the anti-competitive behaviour of corporate supermarket giants is now within reach.”

“The Greens are proud to have led this debate, and to have helped highlight the need for divestiture through our recent Senate inquiry.”

“The numbers are now there to pass laws through the Senate. The Greens are ready and willing to work constructively to urgently deliver cheaper food and groceries.”

“Labor needs to stop supporting their corporate donors and actually work with the Parliament to deliver the powers we need to break up the supermarket duopoly, bring more competition to the supermarket sector and bring food prices down.”

Today I am pleased to announce the appointment of five highly qualified individuals to lead Australia’s posts in Cambodia, Honolulu, Morocco, Nepal and Vanuatu.  

I am also pleased to announce the appointment of Ms Amanda McGregor as Australia’s next Special Representative on Afghanistan.

Based in Qatar, Ms McGregor will work with like-minded countries to call out the Taliban on its abuse of human rights and support the people of Afghanistan.

Our diplomats are the driver of Australia’s engagement with the world. They build influence and prosecute Australia’s national interests abroad.

These individuals will take up the following positions:

• Mr Derek Yip as Australia’s next Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia.
• Mr Greg Wilcock as Australia’s next Consul-General in Honolulu.
• Mr Damien Donavan as Australia’s next Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco.
• Ms Leann Johnston as Australia’s next Ambassador to Nepal.
• Mr Max Willis as Australia’s next High Commissioner to the Republic of Vanuatu.

I thank the outgoing heads of mission, consul-general and the former Special Representative on Afghanistan for their contributions to advancing Australia’s interests.

The Albanese Government has again failed to meet its targets to deliver the 500 new frontline domestic violence workers it promised at the election.

After originally pledging to have 200 new workers on the ground by 30 June 2023, and delivering none, the Government revised that number to a target of 352 by 30 June 2024.

The Department of Social Services’ updated figures released today show the Albanese Government has failed to meet this target with only 94 of the promised 352 workers in place. This means only around a quarter of promised workers are in place against the revised targets.

There has been no change in the numbers in Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania or the Australian Capital Territory since last month’s update. No state or territory has hit its targets.

This means despite repeated assurances from Anthony Albanese and the Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth, and universal calls from the community for increased spending on domestic violence supports, hundreds of critical domestic violence worker roles remain unfilled.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Women, Sussan Ley, called on Anthony Albanese to take responsibility for this failure.

“It has been over 770 days since Anthony Albanese took office and he has failed again and again when it comes to delivering the 500 domestic violence workers he promised,” the Deputy Leader said.

“Anthony Albanese needs to stand up and accept responsibility for failing to deliver the promised 500 new domestic violence workers and fix this. Regardless of your political views, if you care about action on domestic violence, you should expect the Prime Minister to deliver on his commitments here.

“As it stands it is unlikely we will see all 500 promised workers on the ground by the next election and that would be a black mark on this Prime Minister’s record.”

Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence Senator Kerrynne Liddle said every day without the promised frontline workers is a day too many.

“We know in households across Australia, people are experiencing greater intensity of violence or violence is new to their family experience. They should have had the resources that were announced to get their vote in 2022 to assist them,” Senator Liddle said.

These are not just figures, these are workers that should be on the ground supporting women and children experiencing family, domestic and sexual violence – supporting the LGBTIQA+ community, women with disability, culturally and linguistically diverse women and children, and First Nations people.

Australians were told women’s safety would be a priority for this government but instead we see a consistent failure to deliver the workers as promised. This is unacceptable.

The Coalition will stand up for Australian small businesses, farmers, and consumers by delivering stronger penalties for anti-competitive behaviour in the supermarket and hardware sectors.

Today, we announce the Coalition will introduce sector-specific divestiture powers as a last resort to manage supermarket behaviour and address supermarket price-gouging.

Divestiture powers will address serious allegations of land banking, anti-competitive discounting, and unfairly passing costs onto suppliers.

The time for this policy has come.

Inflation in Australia is high and rising, putting pressure on household budgets, and forcing families to make tough decisions.

Under the Albanese Labor Government – which promised the Australian people that life would be “cheaper” under Labor – food prices have actually increased by 11.4 per cent. The cost of everyday essentials at the supermarket checkout has increased. And this winter, many Australian families are choosing between heating or eating.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

The measures we announce today are about restoring fairness for consumers, for families, for suppliers, and for farmers.

The Coalition’s divestiture powers will have appropriate safeguards in place, ensuring divestiture won’t lead to a loss of jobs and services.

The Coalition will also strengthen the Food and Grocery Code by making it mandatory for supermarket chains with annual turnover of more than $5 billion for the current signatories – Woolworths, Coles, Aldi and Metcash. Supermarkets will face infringement notices of up to $2 million for contraventions of the Code.

Tougher civil penalties for supermarkets will apply to contraventions of the mandatory industry code, starting from $10 million.

These punitive penalties will be backed by a Supermarket Commissioner, who will act as an impartial confidential avenue for farmers and suppliers.

This new appointment will be created to address the fear retribution for speaking out against supermarkets. A Supermarket Commissioner will provide information and receive complaints, which can then be provided to the ACCC.

The Coalition believes families and consumers deserve access to affordable fresh food, and farmers and suppliers deserve fair prices – without supermarket interference or price-gouging.

The Coalition is committed to delivering competition policy which supports consumers and smaller businesses – not the big corporations and lobbyists.

Competitive markets benefit everyone by ensuring lower prices, creating more employment opportunities, and fostering innovation.

This policy aligns Australia with our major trading partners, ensuring Australians get a fairer go.

This is part of the Coalition’s plan to get Australia’s economy back on track.

Today the Government will introduce the new Future Made in Australia Bill 2024 and Future Made in Australia (Omnibus Amendments No. 1) Bill 2024 to Parliament, a major step in making the Australian economy more prosperous and resilient.

This legislative package is a key part of putting our Future Made in Australia plan into action, so Australia makes the most of the major economic and industrial opportunities of the energy transition.

The Future Made in Australia legislation will bring together our policy work in this space to ensure it is an effective and practical strategy for Australia to seize this opportunity.

This legislation is all about unlocking private sector investment to build a stronger, more diversified and more resilient economy powered by renewable energy that creates secure, well-paid jobs around the country.

It embeds into law a disciplined and rigorous approach that will govern Future Made in Australia investments, to make the most of our net zero potential and ensure the benefits of these investments are widely shared and flow to local communities.

This package does three main things. It will legislate our new National Interest Framework, introduce a robust sector assessment process, and outline the Community Benefit Principles that will apply to investment decisions.

The National Interest Framework defines criteria for identifying sectors that will be key to the net zero transformation and where Australia could have a genuine comparative advantage, or where there is an economic security or resilience imperative to invest in domestic capability.

The package will enable Government to commission Treasury to undertake independent analysis of the extent that areas of the economy are aligned with the National Interest Framework, barriers to private investment in these areas and opportunities to address them.

It sets out five Community Benefit Principles that will be applied to Future Made in Australia supports identified in the Bill. To ensure the benefits of investment flow to local workers, industries and communities, decision makers will be required to have regard to how relevant investments can:

• Promote safe and secure jobs that are well paid and have good conditions;
• Develop more skilled and inclusive workforces, including by investing in training and skills development and broadening opportunities for workforce participation;
• Engage collaboratively with and achieve positive outcomes for local communities, such as First Nations communities and communities directly affected by the transition to net zero;
• Strengthen domestic industrial capabilities including through stronger local supply chains; and
• Demonstrate transparency and compliance in relation to the management of tax affairs, including benefits received under Future Made in Australia supports.

The legislation establishes Future Made in Australia Plans. These are written plans that can be required by Government to help maximise the broader benefits of investment in a Future Made in Australia. The application of the Principles and Plans will be subject to further consultation.

It will also establish the Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund to support emerging technologies in industries like green metals, clean energy manufacturing and low carbon liquid fuels, and it expands the National Interest Account to better enable investment in Australia’s national interests. 

To promote investment certainty, these amendments reintroduce guaranteed statutory funding for ARENA, which was allowed to lapse under the previous Government.

The Government recognises that the best opportunities for Australia and its people lie at the intersection of industry, energy, resources, skills and our ability to attract and deploy investment.

The Future Made in Australia package improves our investment environment and encourages new industries that put us on a path to net zero and strengthen our economic resilience.

Following the failure of the 2023 Voice to Parliament Referendum, the Greens will introduce a Bill to establish a Truth and Justice Commission in the next sitting week.

The Commission will be empowered to inquire into particular matters relating to historic and ongoing injustices against First Peoples in Australia and the impacts of these injustices on First Peoples, and make recommendations to parliament.

The Albanese Labor Government committed to implementing the Uluru Statement from the Heart “in full” before the election and on election night in May 2022, as well as during the Voice campaign. The Uluru Statement from the Heart includes three components: Truth, Treaty and Voice.

With 65,000 years of culture, country, connection and languages Australia’s First peoples are still waiting for the delivery of justice.

The Commission will investigate:

1. Historical systemic injustices perpetrated by the Commonwealth government, Commonwealth government bodies and non-government bodies against First Peoples since pre colonial times.
2. Ongoing systemic injustice perpetrated by the Commonwealth Government, Commonwealth bodies and non-government bodies.
3. The causes and consequences of historical injustice, including a historical analysis of the impact of colonisation and an evaluation of the contemporary relationship between First Peoples and the Commonwealth Government and the impact of contemporary policies, practices, conduct and laws on First Peoples.
4. How historical injustice can be effectively and fairly acknowledged and redressed in a culturally appropriate way.
5. How ongoing injustice can be addressed or redressed, including recommended reform to existing institutions, law, policy and practice and considering how the Commonwealth Government can be held accountable for addressing these injustices and preventing future injustice.
6. How best to raise awareness and increase public understanding of the history and experiences of First Peoples before and since the start of colonisation.

The Commission will submit to the President and the Speaker a report containing its findings of fact and any recommendations relevant to the inquiry that the Commission thinks fit. The report must be submitted on or before the end of the period of four years starting on the commencement of the Commission’s work, unless that period is extended by a resolution of the Senate.

Greens portfolio holder for First Nations, Resources, Trade, Tourism and Northern Australia, and Yamatji Noongar woman, Senator Dorinda Cox:

“We have been waiting for the opportunity to not just tell our truths, but to have Australia deeply listen to our experiences, past and present as the oldest living culture in the world, Australia’s First Peoples.

“I know as a proud First Nations woman, with lineage to my Irish and French ancestry – we are a diverse and multicultural nation. We are now in the third chapter of our story, but missed the opportunity to understand and enshrine the experiences of First Peoples and our shared and interconnected past.

“We want Australians to know that in this process we will begin to heal as a nation,  we will understand that the work that we do now must be grounded in our self determination to chart our pathway forward to achieve better outcomes for First Nations people, communities and our collective futures.”

Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP:

“Telling the truth is a critical first step to healing and bringing our country together.

“We must tell the truth about the violence and dispossession in this country’s history if we want to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. First Nations people have called for a Truth and Justice Commission to achieve that truth-telling.

“The misinformation peddled during the referendum campaign showed the urgent need for a deeper discussion about the truth of our country’s history. Since the referendum, which left a lot of people hurting, Labor has failed to offer any pathway forward.

The Greens are proud to introduce this Bill for a Truth and Justice Commission to begin the healing process of truth-telling for First Nations people and the broader community.”

Greens spokesperson for Attorney General Senator David Shoebridge:

“Justice for First Nations Peoples needs a solid foundation of truth, and a Truth Commission could help deliver that essential and missing element.

“The full extent of the injustices faced by First Nations peoples, together with their deep rooted strengths, are truths the community must hear then respond to.

“Truth telling commissions around the world have been extraordinarily effective ways to empower communities in telling their stories, and create commitment for much-needed change.”